So we arrived in New Zealand from Fiji-boy that was a dramatic change!! The flight was only 3 hours so it wasn’t too bad and we arrived at a reasonable hour too which was even better!! The major difference was it was absolutely freezing when we got here-well compared to Fiji it was! We got a shuttle from the airport and arrived at the hostel in Auckland. Auckland was basically just another city as far as we were concerned, and we’ve seen loads of those!! We couldn’t wait to get into the countryside and see the proper New Zealand that everyone imagines!
So we spent a couple of days in Auckland looking around but there wasn’t that much to do and no, we didn’t do a bungy jump!! We organized to hire a car for 7 weeks starting on the Tuesday after we had arrived as it was a lot cheaper than getting a bus ticket, plus we would have the freedom to go wherever we wanted! Monday was Brian’s birthday so we had a lovely little day, we went to see ‘Fame’ in the IMAX theatre (Brian’s choice!) and then went for our tea. We then discovered an Irish pub not too far away from the hostel so we had a few Magners to drown Brian’s sorrows at the fact he had turned 23!!
Tuesday we were getting our car, it was a Mazda something and it was called ‘Gizzy’!! So we wait around for them, as they were picking us up from the hostel at 10am. It got to 10.40am and they still hadn’t arrived so I rang them to see what was happening-they had no note on the computer that we needed picking up and wondered why we were late!! So they sent someone down to pick us up and take us to the office where we could fill out the paperwork. They organized an upgrade for us as it was their mistake that they hadn’t picked us up!!So we drove away in a Toyota Yaris-much better street cred than if you were driving Gizzy!! (See photo album with picture of our car and a Gizzy!!)
We left Auckland and then drove for a few hours North to a place called Paihia. It was a little fishing town and it was so cute, as was the hostel. It was so clean, they even replace the shower curtains everytime someone checks out!! We really had to wrap up warm here as it was on the coast so it was bloody freezing!! We hadn’t worn jeans since we left the UK so we had to dig them out from the bottom of our bags!! We stayed there for 1 night and it was on the radio as we left there about the Tsunami that had hit Samoa and that New Zealand had a Tsunami warning. It was quite worrying to be honest but they said if it hit it shouldn’t be too bad and told everyone to stay away from the coast or to get to higher ground if you lived at the coast. As it was nothing became of it but it was on the news that all these surfer dudes got on their boards and were in the sea waiting for the wave to hit-crazy!! We then drove up to Cape Reinga which is the 3rd most northly point in the North Island (but if you look at a map it looks like the 2nd as you can’t even see the most northly point!!) There is a lighthouse there and it is also the point where the Pacific Ocean meets the Tasman Sea. We read that it is best to go there when the weather is stormy as you get to see these big waves and we were lucky that the weather was awful when we were there! It was amazing seeing them meet.
We then drove to Ahipara and stayed there for 1 night. Even though it was a YHA hostel, it was on a holiday campground where people take their caravans. We were staying in a little cabin thing (basically it looked like a shed!) but it was really warm which was good as there was a storm that night but we were all snug in our shed!! They were really strict there too, they locked the gate at 8pm so you couldn’t drive out after that but then again you couldn’t really walk as everything was miles away!! So we just got a bottle of red wine and read our books in bed-very rock and roll!!!
The next day we started heading south but everything was at quite a distance so we stopped off in Auckland again for a night. We went to the Irish pub again and had our tea there and it was gorgeous-proper home-made stuff!! Mmmmmm!! We then left Auckland the next day and drove east to the Coromandel Peninsula to a place called Thames. It was a lovely little hostel so we stayed there for a few nights. We then saw a notice on the notice board about staying for 2 weeks and working there in exchange for accommodation. So we talked it through and decided that we could spare 2 weeks to stay and help out, as we really liked it there! It was only a small town but it was dead cute and everyone knew each other-bit like Emmerdale but don’t think it had half the scandals!!! We spoke to the owner and he said he would be happy to have us so we stayed!!
We started work on the Monday and we were making up the beds when people checked out and cleaning up and it was ok, we had to do 4 hours a day and got 2 days off at the weekend. It was ok for the first weeks or so, we just put in our iPods and we were off! We normally finished about 2pm so once we had eaten lunch we went out for the day. We went on a few walks around the area and at the weekend we went further up the Peninsula to Coromandel Town. This town was even smaller than Thames and had the most amazing smoked fish shop! Their specialty was smoked mussels and they were gorgeous! We also drove over to Whitianga and done a walk to the Cathedral Cove, which was on the new Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian film! That was a really nice walk and we had timed it so that the tide was out so we could walk through the cave.
The second week of work was a bit more tedious than the first, they were starting to take advantage of us a bit; they even wanted us to run the hostel for a few days while he was away!!We said we would do fewer hours at the beginning of the week as we would be doing more at the end of the week and he said that was fine. So the time came when we were left in charge! It was ok, quiet really and we only had to work until 5 so that was ok. The 2nd day we were on the reception we were left there until 7pm and we had done over our required hours so we said to them that we would only do the cleaning on the last day as they were taking the mickey out of us!! Yay-go us!!
We left Thames on the Saturday and headed down to a place called Raglan on the West coast. We stopped off at Hamilton on the way to get some warmer clothes and then carried on to Raglan. We were recommended the hostel where we stayed and it is one of the nicest hostels we’ve ever been in. There was a gorgeous view from the bedroom (see pics) and the whole place was so relaxed, it was a little surfer town so because it was still spring it was still quite quiet. We ended up staying there for 2 nights, they even had their own hot tub and sauna!! We left there, reluctantly, and headed for a place called Rotarua. This is where there is a lot of thermal activity and basically the whole town smells of sulphur!! We had a walk around a park with little geysers but once you have been to Yellowstone, anything else is a disappointment!! We only stayed there for 1 night and then headed to Taupo the following day.
We went to a place called Craters of the Moon on our way, more geysers and bubbling mud pools! The hostel was right by Lake Taupo and it was really nice, we headed out to explore the area. We went to a place called Huka Falls on the Wai River and that was pretty amazing. We also went to Aratiatia Rapids which was a dam letting the water out of the river. So we walked up to the highest viewpoint and got a seat and waited for the water to come rushing out of the dam and down the river-but it didn’t quite happen like that! I’m sure the water was going really really fast but it just didn’t look that impressive from where we were!! We waited for 25 minutes and the river level was raising but then we left cos it was too boring!!! We also went to a place called The Honey Hive and this is where we discovered Manuka Honey!! It is absolutely gorgeous so we bought a little tub for $5-quite reasonable we thought!
We went out for the night to an Irish bar as there was a quiz on-needless to say we never won as we didn’t have the trusty Blue Anchor quiz team behind us!! The next day we left for Napier which is on the East coast. This is the red wine region of New Zealand so we wanted to do some wine tasting! Another really nice hostel and the owner Bob was really nice too!! He planned out the next day for us having a drive around the countryside and ending up in a couple of wineries! One of them was Church Road and the other was Mission Estate Winery which was the oldest one in NZ! We done some tasting in Church Road and ended up buying a bottle of Malbec which I’m saving for my birthday!! Mission Estate was really posh so Brian only tasted a few here, I couldn’t cos I was the designated driver!! We stayed here for 2 nights and I even had a double bed to myself in a dorm!!
The next day we had a long drive down to Wellington which took 5 hours. We arrived in Wellington, got sorted in the hostel and then put on our glad rags and headed out to paint the town red! We had a nice little night and got back to the hostel to have what could actually be called the worst night’s sleep-EVER!! Brian was on the top bunk and every time he moved the slightest bit, the whole bed shook and squeaked!! We both woke up feeling so tired! We visited the Te Papa museum in Welly the next day and they have a giant squid which was pretty cool! We had organized the ferry trip for Sunday when we left Welly. It left at 1pm which was a lot better than the alternative of 8am!! The ferry crossing was so cold but was one of the only days since being in NZ that it hasn’t rained! It took 3 hours and 15 minutes until we arrived in Picton on the South Island.

So that is our journey of the North Island, hope you like the photos and note how cold it was by the clothes we’re wearing-quite a difference from Fiji!!